The Other Dark Warrior
by Salamandrastron
Summary: There was another Dark Eco warrior project done by the Baron that is still alive, and being hunted no less. It turns out, Jak met him in prison while awaiting his own Dark Eco exposure and now he meets Jak again. what happens? Who can say?
1. Chapter 1

**Footsteps could be heard , splashing across the soggy ground as a cloaked and hodded figure ran though the downpour that had started earlier that day. He looked over his shoulder and rounded a corner, but came to a sharp halt. He muttered a swear under his breath as he dove out of the way of gunfire and slipped into a small space bewteen two buildings and out of sight.**

**"Blast it." someone practically snarled, slamming his fist into the side of a building. "That makes the seventh time he's gotten away." He looked up and walked away, mumbling curses under his breath.**

**The one that had been running sank against a wall, breathing heavily. He lifted his arms and pulled back his hood so he could breathe. After a minute he lifted his head to see where he was. He jumped nearly half a mile when he heard footsteps around a corner as he threw his hood back over his face and backed into the shadows. He needn't have worried, however, as the one that rounded the corner was in no way a threat to him.**

**The one in the shadows waited only second after he had seen this person before he took off running again. It dodn't take him long before he had caught up with and passed the one he had just seen. The other lifted his head, but hsi expression was unreadable. The one from the shadows payed no mind and rounded a corner, barreling across a bridge, and ducking into a dark building, shutting the door behind him. His breathing ragged and heavy, he walked forward and sat down, pushing his hood back.**

**"Why do you do this to yourself?" he asked himself. "Why always running away..." He had no answer, but he nearly jumped out of his skin at a knock at the door. His voice shaking terribly, he asked... "Who's there?" It was a few seconds before someone answered. "No one you know." At least, the one in the house thought, he was honest. He stood up shakily and walked to the door, opening it.**

**In the doorway was the one he had passed on the way to his house. It took him a moment of study, but with a shock, he jumped a foot in the air as he realized who it was. "Jak?" Jak's expression shifted to surprise. "You know me?" "Yes, I know you. I was there when the Baron was doing those damned experiments with Dark Eco." he said. "One of the many failed attempts..." he said, his voice dropping suddenly. Without another word, he stood back and Jak walked past him.**

**He shut the door and went back to his chair. "I'm not surprised you don't remember me." he said after a moment. "I only spoke to you once." he said. "Before the Baron injected you with the Dark Eco." Jak thought for a long moment, but he shook his head. "I don't remember anyone talking to me at all."**

**"I didn't figure you would." he said, shaking his head as he pulled back his hood again. "But I remember very well. And I also remember the day you got out of there." He looked down at his hands then. "Also remember your little friend." His head jerked up as he said that. "You hear that?" He had just heard footsteps again. Jak shook his head. "Don't worry, it's just Daxter. Getting lost everywhere because he's always worrying about losing his precious pants."**

**As if on cue, Daxter's scurrying footsteps stopped at the door and there came some very quick, but not quite loud knocks. Jak opened the door, as he was nearer, and Daxter practically jumped in ."JAK! There's some crazy people out there." he said, shaking water off him. "And I mean crazier than you." The one sitting down pulled his head back voer his face. Daxter noticed the movement and looked over at him. "Hey, I remember you! You were in the Baron's prison!"**

**He looked up hearing Daxter's words. "Oh great... The ottsel remembers me..." Daxter looked confused at that and he turned to Jak. "You don't remember him?" "I don't remember anything from my time in the Baron's prison. I try to forget." Daxter shook his head and was about to say something, but he was cut off. "I didn't thin kyou would remember much from your time there." the one sitting down said. "But I would expect you to remember some."**

**Daxter looked up at the cieling. "I can see this has 'long, boring story' written all over it." The one at the table made a kind of guttural roar as his eyes flashed a dangerous shade of black. "JAK! He's crazy!" Daxter shouted in fright, jumping from where he stood to Jak's shouldrr and hiding behind Jak's head. A look of realization suddenly dawned on Jak. "I do remember something..." he said. "You... You were the third one the Baron exposed to Dark Eco, and you were considered a complete failure..."**

**"That's because I could hide what the Eco had done to me."**

**"You can hide the effects of the Dark Eco?" Jak was shocked at that.**

**"Yes, I can." he said. "Unlike you Jak, I was exposed to a much larger amount of Dark Eco, far more than what was neccesary to kill me." His eyes went unfocused for a moment. "But I didn't die. I survived, if only barely for three years I was stuck there before you showed up." He looked up then. "Remember now?"**

**Jak nodded slowly. "I do remember..." he said. "You told me... To be ready for anything... Even things I would never expect..."**

**"And you were ready. That's why your body rejected the Dark Eco to some degree. You could use it, control it to some degree, but it always brought madness and an urge for destruction whenever you did use it." The one sitting shook his head. "I wish the same thing were true for me..." he said suddenly. "What do you mean by that?" Jak looked confused. "I mean, I wish that I couldn't control Dark Eco like I can. If I couldn't. I wouldn't still be being hunted down." He shook his head. "By the way," he said, "my name is Azrael." Jak nodded and was about to say something when his communicator went off.**

**Jak pulled it out and flipped it open. "Jak, where the hell are you?" It was, of course, Torn. Jak didn't say anything, he just flipped the communicator closed and pocketed it again, shaking his head. "I gotta go." he said and left. Azrael leaned back in his chair, thinking. "Yes... I think I might be able to make some allies after all..."**


	2. Chapter 2

Azrael stood from his chair then. He walked to one of the walls and ran his fingers over the surface. "Old... Soon, this entire place will fall down..." he said, his voice trailing away into nothing. He pulled his hood back over his face and walked back outside into the still pouring rain. He was immediately hit by it, nearly pushing him down. But it took only a moment for him to stand up straight again and walk away from his home. He kept his head down and his eyes concealed, as he didn't need any more attanetion than was neccesary.

But it was inevitable, and the second he rounded the corner, he was fce to face with the barrels of well over 50 guns. "Aw crap..." he muttered. He took a step backward, and was just about to run off again, when he was hit dead in the chest by well over half of the shots fired. He hit the ground, blood seeping over his frame and the ground. But then, his breathing went ragged and slow, his frame stopped shaking in pain, and he stood up again. His eyes flashed black, staying that color this time. His teeth changed rapidly into deadly looking fangs as his nails turned into long claws. His hair grew longer than it was, turning deathly white as well as his skin.

He was once again shot at, this time every shot finding its' mark. Every shot peirced Azrael's flesh, drawing blood which rolled down his body before the rain washed it away and stained the ground crimson. With a savage, anamalistic growl, he shot forward. Like a hawk among pidgeons, he scattered and destroyed them. His claws tore through flesh and bone alike, scraping and leaving deep gouges in the walls when he neared them. It took only secodns before he was left standing in a mass of crimson stained ground and mutilated bodies. His frame shrank slightly as his skin returned to its' normal, pale color and his hair returned to silver. He shook his head to clear the slight dizziness that persisted and once again, splased across the soggy ground.

Jak had already reached the Freedom League HQ, and was sitting down, trying to ignore Torn's harsh barking about running off when he was needed. Daxter was, as could be expected, not listening at all as well as nowhere to be found at the moment. Yes, the same as usual. Off with Tess and worrying about his precious pants. "Jak! Are you even listening?" Jak turned to look at Torn. "No, i'm not. And if you keep acting like you can command everyone around, you're going to find out what it feel like to be commanded around." Yes, that shut Torn up. He turned his head away from Jak, not saying anything else.

IT was then that a Freedom League guard came running in. His gun was sliced clean in two and his armor bore several deep and bloody gashes. "Torn! You know that guy you wanted us to capture? You were right. The Baron did experiment on him with Dark Eco too!" "And?" Torn walked toward the guard. "What happened?" "Sir... He completely slaughtered over 50 of us in less than twenty seconds..." "What?" Torn got up, walking around the holo map of the city. "What do you mean?" "He means just what he said." a voice in the doorway said.

The guard took one look at the person in the doorway and then promptly collapsed. "You." Jak looked at him. "Yes, me." the one in the doorway said, taking a few steps inside and causing water to drip from his cloak. "You were expecting maybe the king of showbusiness?" "He would have been better than you!" Daxter had popped up on Jak's shoulder. The cloaked figure looked at Jak and Daxter then ."Thought I might find you here." he said, pulling back his hood. "So? You foudn us, what do you wan-Oh. Nevermind." It was, of course, Azrael.

But Torn, being his distrustful self, had alread pulled his knife out. "Just who the hell are you? You think you can slaughter 50 of the Leauge's guards, then just come walking in here like you own the place?" "As a matter of fact, yes I do." Azrael said. As he spoke, he pointed a finger at Torn, causing purple lightning to crackle around his throat. Torn tried to say something, but he couldn't make any sound. "That shut him up!" Daxter proclared, stating the obvious.

Jak's face was blank. "You can control it." he said. Azrael looked at him. "Of course I can. I told you before." He then noticed the emblem on the communicater Jak had used before. "Wait... You... You're a member of this damned league..." he said. His tone suddenly changed to a growl. "The next time I see you, i'll kill you." he snarled and tore back out the door. Rather then using the elevator, he just tore through the wall amidst a Dark Eco cloud. Jak shook his head in disbeleif. "What's going on here?" he looked at Torn for an explanation.

Torn, now able to speak again, rubbed his throat. "We've been trying to track him down for some time now... Try and get him inducted into the League..." he said. "But I guess he doesn't want to join." The guard that had collapsed stood up then. "You wanted him to join the League? Oh damn..." "What did you do?" "We... We treated him like we would a Metal Head..." Torn threw his knife at the guard, missing him by mere inches. "Jak, go find him." he said, turning to Jak. "Don't let him kill you. And try to get him to join the League." Jak stood up and was out the door in a few seconds.

Azrael had already covered a huge distance during the short time that had passed. He smashed through a zoomer in his way, making his way out of the city. "That bastard... He's going to be deader than dead and nailed to a wall if I see him again..." he snarled, shoving a person roughly aside and sending them catapaulting into a wall. Azrael splashed through the rain and mud, throwing another person out of his way. He was heading for the one place he knew almost as well as the city. Haven Forest.

He reached the door to the decontamination room and rather than waiting for it to open, he just snarled and made his own door, right through the one in front of him. He smashed through tthe other door as well, then tore off across the ground into Haven Forest.

Azrael jumped over the river that ran through the forest, his footsteps slowing and his breathing becoming quieter as he stood on the opposite bank. His cloak, now tattered and bloodstained from his encounter with the FL guards, he wore still. He walked then in silence, making his way through the trees quickly, as if he was looking for something. He found it without much trouble. He silently and stealthil walked toward it, and slipped through the narrow crevice in the moss-covered rocks. He emerged in a small cavern with a low ceiling, barely twice his own height. It was lit by sunlight filtering in through the thick moss and branches that covered the small opening above it. The rocks inside were dry and so covered with moss, it was impossible to tell they were rocks. The only sound in the cavern was the steady drip of water as it fell through the branches and moss over head.

He walked to the back of the cavern, finding the dryest spot and sat down, pulling his tattered cloak around him and huddling into it. Soon with the steady sound of the rain falling outside and its' steady drip as it fell through the branches overhead, he fell asleep.


End file.
